DIY iPad Case

Ever since Jason gave me his old iPad way back in June of this year I've been meaning to make a case for it. Yes, it has taken me six months to get around to it. I think the problem is that I couldn't decide on a "cool enough" iPad case. I could have easily crocheted a simple cover but I wanted something different. What about sewing some fabric together, making use of scraps? Nah, still not what I wanted. And then out of nowhere I got hit with the perfect idea for a DIY iPad case: a hard cover book!

The next thing that kept me from actually making the damn case was getting my lazy butt to the local thrift shop to find a suitable book. Luckily, it took only one trip to find the book I wanted.

Now, here I must give some advice. If you are going to do this project please, PLEASE, use a book that you don't care about, preferably one without awesome and historically fascinating photos. Oh lessons learned.

In an ideal world I would have chosen a plain and boring book and then I would have used spray adhesive on each page, pressed it all together and then I would have cut out the hole for the iPad.

But my world is not ideal and I had to go and choose a book I liked with pictures that I liked and wanted to keep and use for something else. So, I had to cut out the hole before gluing the pages together. It took a couple of days but I think it was worth it. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

Anyway, to make this iPad (or other device) case you will need:

  • A hard cover book, slightly bigger than your device, and as I mentioned already, a book you don't care about.

  • Mod Podge or spray adhesive

  • Exacto knife

  • Elastic, cut into about 5 or 6 inch pieces

  • Stapler

  • Sturdy strip of fabric for the spine. This will cover the staples and elastic edge.

Glue the pages together and press firmly. I put my book under some weight overnight.

Measure and mark where the hole will be and put that knife to use!

(Optional - cut out a hole where the charger plug goes so you can keep your iPad safe and snug while it charges).

At this point you can leave the case as is or you can add strips of elastic to keep the iPad in place in case you actually want to hold the book up, you know, to pretend you're reading something amazing. Do this by not gluing the book cover to the glued pages until after you have stapled the strips of elastic to the corners. Wrap the elastic around the back side to staple and make sure it's slightly taught or your iPad will fall out. You don't want that.

Glue the pages to the back cover, let it dry and presto! You have finished a DIY iPad case out of a hard cover book.

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